Can I brag about my very devoted wife to you? - Chapter 11 Part 7 - As a real couple... [Final chapter]

As a real couple…

“You said you were my stalker…?”

Riko shrank back and looked up at me with tears in her eyes.

“Um, Riko, if it’s hard to say, you don’t have to.”

“Uuh… I know I have to tell you… Listen to me.”

I felt Riko’s determination and gulped.

“I-I had to go back overseas again just when I was going to elementary school. Since then, I’ve been very fond of Minato-kun, and I’ve talked about him a lot at home.”

“I-I see.”

I felt my face heat up by itself.

“When my parents saw me like that, they just couldn’t bring themselves to tell me that we were going to leave Japan… I was taken to America without being able to say goodbye to Minato-kun.”

… I see. That’s why Riko’s existence had suddenly disappeared from my memory?

“It was when I was in the second year of junior high school that I was able to come back to Japan again. Nine years went by without me seeing Minato-kun, but I kept thinking about you during that time.”

I couldn’t believe that Riko had been in love with me for nine years. I waited for Riko to continue with her story with my mouth hanging open.

“As soon as I got back home, I tried to go see Minato-kun. But when I saw Minato-kun… I was too nervous… I couldn’t call out to him… Because he’s the one I’ve been dying to meet for so long. I was afraid that Minato-kun might not remember me anymore, and that he might be annoyed with me before that… I got scared … ”

In fact, I had forgotten about Riko, and I felt helplessly sorry.

“I’m sorry, I… I can’t believe I forgot about Riko.”

“Uuh… usually everyone forgets about what happened in kindergarten.”

But Riko remembered, didn’t she? I bit my lip as my love for her made me want to cry.

“So… I kept thinking that ‘today is the day I’ll talk to you, and I’ll go see you’, every day … ”

“Eh, every day!? But I think I would’ve noticed if I had seen a cute girl like Riko by my side … ”

Riko’s cheeks reddened in response to the word ‘cute’ that I had said on the spur of the moment.

“Ah, um, I was wearing a disguise with my sunglasses, a hat, and a mask… ”

“I see…”

“So… I’ve been hanging around Minato-kun, listening in, learning what he likes, what manga he likes, reading the same ones… Ah, I’m totally sick…!”

Riko crouched down, holding her head as if she couldn’t stand it anymore.

“…”

Riko doesn’t notice that I’m looking down at her silently, my face the reddest it’s ever been.

The way Riko had been acting might be considered by some people to be stalking. [TL: Because it is.] But since I wasn’t being bothered in any way, I felt that it wasn’t that big of a deal. No, it didn’t matter at this point. What mattered was how I felt about it.

In the end, it’s simple, there are things that you can’t accept if someone else does it, but if the person you love does it, it’s not just disgusting, it can turn into joy.

In other words …

” … I know, you’re disgusted now… ”

“I’m not disgusted at all!”

I assured her.

“In fact, I was wondering too if you were thinking about me that much… Aah… I’m so happy I’m dying…”

Riko looked at me blankly with a surprised look on her face.

I’m so happy… ah… I’ve always liked Riko.

I’ve always been jealous of Riko’s love for A-man. The man who rejected Riko, even though Riko was in love with him. I’ve had a crush on Riko, hoping to take her heart away from him one day, but…

“So there’s no A-man…?”

“Eh? What?”

” … Riko’s first love is me, her first love that she met again when she was in middle school is also me, and the guy who was mistakenly thought to have dumped Riko is also me!”

“Eh!? ah, yes!”

Before I knew it, we were sitting on the floor, facing each other, and we exchanged words under our breaths.

“Oh no… I’ve made a terrible mistake…”

“Eh, eh!? Minato-kun!?”

“Sorry, Riko! There’s something I’ve been hiding from Riko too…”

I confided in her, starting with the fact that I had assumed that Riko already had someone else she liked, and even that I hadn’t been able to tell her my true feelings for a long time.

“Well, I mean, did you think I asked Minato-kun to marry me when I love someone else? That I kissed Minato-kun and begged him to do more than that even though I liked someone else…??” [TL: Oh right, they are married.]

“I’m really sorry…!”

I bowed vigorously to Riko, whose eyes were wide open. I realized how rude I was and how much I misunderstood her when she spoke up.

“If it wasn’t Minato-kun, I wouldn’t want to hold hands with you, hug you, or even kiss you… The only person I want to touch or be touched by is and will always be Minato-kun, you know…?”

“…”

“Do you understand?”

Riko, who was looking up at me, puffed out her cheeks and glared at me cutely.

“Yes, I’m really sorry…. But, I see… I’m really married with Riko… It’s like a dream, I can’t really feel it at all…”

I can’t tell you how painful it was for me when I thought that Riko was in love with someone else. Yet, I felt that all the pain in my heart when I felt that I still couldn’t give up on Riko was worth it. I was embarrassed, but I burst into tears.

Riko grabbed my hand as I hurriedly tried to hide my face. She looked up at me.

“Don’t hide it…”

She whispered in a sweet voice, and her pretty face slowly approached me. I couldn’t breathe, I was just staring at her, and then I felt her lips, soft as marshmallow, touch my lips with a chirping sound.

“See, you can feel the warmth, so it’s not a dream, right?”

” … Yeah.”

Riko showed me that with a kiss. That Riko likes me. That she’s my only real girlfriend, my only real wife.

This is how we finally became a true couple.

The end.

Translator & Editor: Riciel